HELP...Nexus, MAXX or iPhone4s?

[Tim K]

Blur may not be as obtrusive as before, but I hate their homescreen and dock implementations. The app tray button on the far right of only 4 icons puzzles me. Plus I found moving items around the home screens to be annoying. Throw in all the crap ware from moto and Verizon and forget about it.

 

[Thai]

Too late, he already went with Gnex.

Nexus is normal smart-phone for me just like any other, not developer phone. And I don't have any connection issue as well as many happy others who don't bother to chime in. With that said, I would have gone with Razr if verizon didn't get Gnex. Both is good phone to me.

Wouldn't the same assumption be true that many may have problems but don't chime in??

 

[gloriousnumber1]

Wow you're brave coming in here and calling the OG Droid a "P.O.S." I know it was the best at the time, and though it quickly got tossed to the side for the latest and greatest, most of us, me included wouldn't call it that. I was glad to retire my Droid once I got my Rezound, because it just didn't have powerful enough hardware in it to run much of any apps that came out in the last 2 years.

I didn't go Razr (or Razr Maxx), or Bionic because I'm not into Motorola much now. Between the talk about the black screen of death, and black splotches on the screen, and not being into Blur, I decided it was out of the question. ICS sure looked nice on the Nexus, but I feel that it was boring and "without soul" (as opposed to the review that called it "the first android with a soul") unless it got rooted and Rom-ed. It depends on what you like.

If you can wait for ICS, you don't need the Nexus, it's not groundbreaking otherwise. If you want a long battery life without the bulk of an extended battery, Maxx is the only viable choice. The Rezound, which was/is my choice has a higher resolution screen, better price, beats audio, and great form factor, at least to me, but you didn't say you were interested in it.

Between the two you like, I'd go Nexus, but that's just me.

 

[phantomash]

If you don't mind waiting for every Android update, if it gets updated at all, and couldn't care less about the OEM skins that changes the look and feel of pure Android, and the extensive developer support, and the Google brand, yea you don't need to get a Nexus.

 

[zerocool79346]

Wouldn't the same assumption be true that many may have problems but don't chime in??

No. This has been hashed out to death, unless you're a nerd like me, generally people will not join sites like this and be active unless they're having problems. Its common sense, I realize you've been trolling this forum since the phone dropped, so this post will likely be ignored as usual.

 

[charliecc]

I switched from an iPhone 4 to the GN and I'm very happy. If I use an iPhone now, the screen seems teeny tiny, I just couldn't go back, at least not until Apple increase the screen size.

Software wise I am surprised with how good ICS is, I thought it would be miles behind iOS, but it's pretty much neck and neck, save for the reliability. If you get a GN get a screen protector though. I went naked with all my iPhones with never a scratch, had the GN for a couple of months and it's got a bad scratch with very careful handling.

I will say this though, DO NOT get a 4S if you have a 4, there is absolutely no point, it's exactly the same phone apart from the Siri feature, which doesn't work very well anyway from all accounts. People will harp on about the better processor etc, etc, the only real upgrade is the camera, but the one on the 4 ain't so bad. Don't let Apple get away with spec bumps in favour of innovation and buy the 4S, it's a disgrace.

 

[pm1066]

No. This has been hashed out to death, unless you're a nerd like me, generally people will not join sites like this and be active unless they're having problems. Its common sense, I realize you've been trolling this forum since the phone dropped, so this post will likely be ignored as usual.

The problem with this is the vast, unwashed bulk of android buyers ARE NOT nerds. So how do you capture all the huge amount of non nerds who are not on this forum, and are still having issues? I'm pretty sure VZW sold the Gnex to anybody with a pulse--same with any phone they sell. Nobody is pulling nerd cards before they can get one.

Same goes for any phone here. This community is a tiny fraction of the overall Android base for any model of phone. So, yeah, the people here who have problems bitch. But that in no way captures all the bobble headed, non-nerd crowd that bought the phone because it was pretty and are still having problems with it, and are NOT on this particular forum.

If you don't mind waiting for every Android update, if it gets updated at all, and couldn't care less about the OEM skins that changes the look and feel of pure Android, and the extensive developer support, and the Google brand, yea you don't need to get a Nexus.

While Moto hasn't dropped ICS yet, there have been 2 updates to the Razr family already--and not just bug fixes. They have added some pretty cool functionality to the integrated file/media management.

As for the "look and feel of pure android", I'm struggling with the value in that. It used to be about speed--Bloat and blur was slowing me down, man!! Now that's pretty much a non issue--these generations of phones have more than enough horsepower, and Blur (and Sense) have been refined enough, so it is not a drag on the system. So now it really boils down to do I want the Google skin, or the HTC skin, or the Moto skin? Yes, I said Google skin. Admit it or not, ICS brings to "pure android" essentially some of the refinements other brands have had in their skins for some time. Woo hoo, progress. And how many people so dig the "look and feel of pure Android" that they keep it that way? There are many threads on ROMs and skins to change the pure android experience. Full disclosure, I run Go Launcher and call it done because I don't like 2 limitations of the blur launcher. Everybody customizes.

The one bit of advice I haven't seen anyone offer the OP (who looks to have made his choice and left, so OBE now), was also to go to the store and try out all the phones. See how they fit in the hand or pocket, and what UI you like best.

 

[TopherG]

Well people, I got the GNEX...am I happy? YES! I love ICS and the beauty it brings and the advancement and I don't seem to get bored playing with this. BUT, and I mean BUT, the battery life is killing me. I bought an extended battery and I can only get about 5 hours on it, and I'm trying my damdest to not be on it so much so I can see how much I'm truly getting.

Not that the iPhone was super better, but I lasted a day+ on that thing....I'm hoping I don't change my mind on this Nexus within my 14 days, that iPhone as sad as this is, but it's tempting to go back.

Go back. I was in your shoes about a month ago and after tinkering the GN to death trying to get better battery life I gave up! I went back to the ip4s and jailbreaking helped to eleviate the bordem of ios. Just my 2cents

 

[Thai]

I will say this though, DO NOT get a 4S if you have a 4, there is absolutely no point, it's exactly the same phone apart from the Siri feature, which doesn't work very well anyway from all accounts. People will harp on about the better processor etc, etc, the only real upgrade is the camera, but the one on the 4 ain't so bad. Don't let Apple get away with spec bumps in favour of innovation and buy the 4S, it's a disgrace.

Are you really looking at this without bias?? Think about what you just said. 4S has arguably the best smartphone camera right now, bar none. (Nokia N8 was good, but no longer in production.) The processor (A5) is also top notch in that it combines a very good CPU to a very good GPU. And until you play Infiniti Blade 2 (and other A5-optimized game) on it, you won't know what you're really missing with the regular iPhone 4 with A4 chip! Significant upgrade IMO.

Although Siri has issues, you have to remember that it is in BETA. And likely, in the next iOS update, it will only get better and more efficient. And even in just beta, it is still light years ahead of other "virtual assistant" apps. And unlike those apps, Siri is fully integrated into the phone's software...and again, will only get better with every update. Siri is not innovative enough for you??? Come on...step back and look at the bigger picture here! Siri is where the smartphone technology is heading...it is THE future that every major tech company (e.g. IBM) is going after.

About the only things that stay the same for the 4S is the screen size and form factor. Well, Apple has a philosophy that the iPhone is a phone first and foremost...so, the screen cannot be too big where a person can't reach the corners of the screen with one hand. Lets face it, Apple can make big nice screens too...see iPad, but they choose not to. The next iPhone (5) will have 4" screen max...due to this philosophy. Although small, the Retina screen is quite good.

As for the form factor, the iPhone 4/4S represents the pinnacle of smartphone construction. Even now, there is no other smartphone that is built to the same degree of art and with such high quality material. None. Read this article from an Android fan: iPhone 4S Up Close and Personal: Hardware - SlashGear So, why fix something that is not broken, right?

Disgrace? Well, not according to consumers nor tech bloggers/reviewers. Lack innovation? Hmm, GN has innovation(s)?? Tell me where.

 

[pm1066]

Good golly was that slash gear guy reviewing the phone or schtupping it?! That was a ridiculously biased hardware "review".

I'll put the product quality of my Chinese Moto slaves up against the quality of Apple's Chinese slaves any day!

 

[pm1066]

Oops.

 

[Jay3]

Get the Galaxy Nexus. You won't regret it

 

[Thai]

Good golly was that slash gear guy reviewing the phone or schtupping it?! That was a ridiculously biased hardware "review".

I'll put the product quality of my Chinese Moto slaves up against the quality of Apple's Chinese slaves any day!

Chris Burns, the slashgear editor, is an Android lover...search his name...he is all Android. But unlike some here, he keeps an open mind!

 

[Tim K]

Well, Apple has a philosophy that the iPhone is a phone first and foremost...

HA HA HA. Except they had their "phone" on AT&T exclusively for how long? AT&T where the one thing it couldn't do was make a phone call.

Apple's philosophy is to sell hardware as profitably as possible and try to get people into their walled garden to buy ipads and macs too. And then supplement the hardware profits with a nice cut of app and music sales.

Although, more and more it seems like their philosophy has become sue, sue and sue some more.

 

[Thai]

HA HA HA. Except they had their "phone" on AT&T exclusively for how long? AT&T where the one thing it couldn't do was make a phone call.

Apple's philosophy is to sell hardware as profitably as possible and try to get people into their walled garden to buy ipads and macs too. And then supplement the hardware profits with a nice cut of app and music sales.

Although, more and more it seems like their philosophy has become sue, sue and sue some more.

Huh?! Ugh, I would not make fun of other phone reception quality when one owns a GN with the notorious bad radio!!! That's funny!

Yeah, apple is about profits...and Samsung, google, htc, etc are any different??!! Samsung is building cheap plastic phone because they want to be Mother Theresa??? Ok....

Hey at least apple is not suing over emoticons!!! . Oh crap, Samsung is gonna sue me now for that smilie!

 

[jinwons]

Go back. I was in your shoes about a month ago and after tinkering the GN to death trying to get better battery life I gave up! I went back to the ip4s and jailbreaking helped to eleviate the bordem of ios. Just my 2cents

So you know how to jailbreak iPhone but can't figure out GNex to get good enough battery life? Wow...

 

[Tim K]

Huh?! Ugh, I would not make fun of other phone reception quality when one owns a GN with the notorious bad radio!!! That's funny!

Yeah, apple is about profits...and Samsung, google, htc, etc are any different??!! Samsung is building cheap plastic phone because they want to be Mother Theresa??? Ok....

Hey at least apple is not suing over emoticons!!! . Oh crap, Samsung is gonna sue me now for that smilie!

Please, don't pretend iPhones didn't have HUGE problems with dropped and missed calls. I know plenty of people with iPhones who weren't afraid to admit it...

Since you don't have a GN, you have no idea what the radio is like. Quite frankly, I have never dropped a call or been unable to make a call with my GN. In fact, in 10 years with verizon I have probably dropped fewer than 15 calls. I've dropped that many in a year talking to friends on iPhones.

As for my comments about Apple, I was not singling them out as profit minded, all companies are.... my point was that they are NOT about making a great phone for making phone calls. If they were, they wouldn't have put it on AT&T.


[I know, I know. Don't feed the troll]

 

[Thai]

Please, don't pretend iPhones didn't have HUGE problems with dropped and missed calls. I know plenty of people with iPhones who weren't afraid to admit it...

Since you don't have a GN, you have no idea what the radio is like. Quite frankly, I have never dropped a call or been unable to make a call with my GN. In fact, in 10 years with verizon I have probably dropped fewer than 15 calls. I've dropped that many in a year talking to friends on iPhones.

As for my comments about Apple, I was not singling them out as profit minded, all companies are.... my point was that they are NOT about making a great phone for making phone calls. If they were, they wouldn't have put it on AT&T.]

Dude, you make no sense at all!! Wow!

I see that you protected yourself by using the past tense ("didn't")...why don't we talk about TODAY, instead of past tense???

Yeah, iPhone 4 had the antenna issue...plus ATT poor reception.Sure. But, iPhone 4 with Verizon did NOT seem to have too much problem...and certainly with 4S, no such issue. Yes, if you're on ATT, then you have crappy reception, as is the case with T-Mobile. But, that is the carrier's fault, not the phone.

You're comparing apples to oranges...you're comparing your Verizon phone vs. ATT phone. Verizon got its reputation for a reason! Why don't you compare a Verizon GN vs. iPhone 4S...both Verizon. There is no contest in my household on which gets better reception on Sprint...not even close...but my wife's is Nexus S 4G, not GN. I get better reception than my brother's GN GSM...but, then again, we have different networks. Comparing the two would be ignorant.

What does putting on ATT have anything to do with a great phone?? I am puzzled by this logic of yours! Doesn't Sammy have phones on ATT too? Doesn't Sammy make phones for ATT/TMo first before making them avail to CDMA networks?? GN GSM works on ATT, right? In fact, didn't GN GSM come to US first before its Verizon brother? Apple probably chose ATT in 2007 because they were big, GSM (thus compatible with worldwide networks), and maybe the only one that took the dive into the smartphone idea. Maybe CDMA phone is harder to design into a small package?? I don't know...do you??? But to ASSUME that because Apple went with ATT initially that they don't care about phone reception is just mind boggling! Really?! This is what you think?! Wow.

Your other comments are just amazingly...well, if i said what is on my mind, this post gets deleted...but you get my point!

 

[rapidsandroid]

Like the original poster, I am in the same dilemma. Been using the HTC Incredible for 2 yrs, but can upgrade now. Torn between Nexus, Razzr, or just wait.
My question, which no one has spoken of in this thread, is about the camera quality on the Nexus and Razzr. Seems most of the blog reviews of the Nexus camera is that it takes horrible grainy pictures. True? Is this something that can be fixed with OTA update or just Samsung being cheap & can't change? Razzr have a good camera?
I understand a phone will never substitute for a stand-alone camera, but I do take a lot of pictures with my phone and that is more of an issue for me than battery which can be fixed or SD card which cloud storage can fix.
Any comments on the camera would be appreciated. thanks

 

[Thai]

a nice cut of app and music sales.

Hmmm, remind me, i believe that Google now charges a similar % of profit for app developer to Apple. Isn't there a music store on Android similar to Itunes?? Hmmm, Tim, are you bias? Nah, just seeing half the picture!

 

[Thai]

Like the original poster, I am in the same dilemma. Been using the HTC Incredible for 2 yrs, but can upgrade now. Torn between Nexus, Razzr, or just wait.
My question, which no one has spoken of in this thread, is about the camera quality on the Nexus and Razzr. Seems most of the blog reviews of the Nexus camera is that it takes horrible grainy pictures. True? Is this something that can be fixed with OTA update or just Samsung being cheap & can't change? Razzr have a good camera?
I understand a phone will never substitute for a stand-alone camera, but I do take a lot of pictures with my phone and that is more of an issue for me than battery which can be fixed or SD card which cloud storage can fix.
Any comments on the camera would be appreciated. thanks

Both have substandard camera from reviews. The Droid 4, just released, has pretty good camera from early reviews. I would go with D4 IMO, esp. if you're into physical keyboard.

 

[stenzor]

So I used to have an iPhone 4 a while back.. I always wondered why sometimes I would get text messages delayed, or not get them at all when I was in my basement.. I had 3 or 4 bars of service! Even when I swapped it for a new one due to the vibe switch being wonky and the vibrate not working periodically, I still had the same issue. Then I got the GN.. It showed me, without even going into settings and looking at my dBm that I would have 1, maybe 2 bars at most.

Note: both phones were on the same network, and I've had the exact same reception with both of them. The GN's "bars" are just more honest. This is a GSM version and in Canada, so maybe you guys down south are having different issues, I don't know, but I just wanted to share my experience.

 

[Thai]

So I used to have an iPhone 4 a while back.. I always wondered why sometimes I would get text messages delayed, or not get them at all when I was in my basement.. I had 3 or 4 bars of service! Even when I swapped it for a new one due to the vibe switch being wonky and the vibrate not working periodically, I still had the same issue. Then I got the GN.. It showed me, without even going into settings and looking at my dBm that I would have 1, maybe 2 bars at most.

Note: both phones were on the same network, and I've had the exact same reception with both of them. The GN's "bars" are just more honest. This is a GSM version and in Canada, so maybe you guys down south are having different issues, I don't know, but I just wanted to share my experience.

Text message is via EDGE, not 3G nor cell signal. BTW, you can get dBm to show on an iPhone too.

 

[rapidsandroid]

Both have substandard camera from reviews. The Droid 4, just released, has pretty good camera from early reviews. I would go with D4 IMO, esp. if you're into physical keyboard.

Not a fan of the physical keyboard and the Droid series has always looked too boxie for my tastes. But thank you for the suggestion.

 

[Thai]

Not a fan of the physical keyboard and the Droid series has always looked too boxie for my tastes. But thank you for the suggestion.

How about Samsung Galaxy SII??